Inland Empire: Ground Zero for Sensationalist Conservative Blogging
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjöld | 05/15/2007 10:33 AM
Congressman Ken Calvert (R-Corona) joins Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-San Bernardino) as target for sensationalist blogging.
As Red County Riverside predicted here, Ken Calvert is under intense scrutiny from the left regarding questionable real estate purchases.
The conservative blog, RedState.com has followed in the footsteps of Jon Fleischman in the new trend of Declaring war on our own conservative legislators.
Jon Fleischman started it all off on Saturday (May 12, 2007) when he declared on flashreport that Congressman Jerry Lewis should not be in Congress anymore.
Fleischman and Lewis have not seen eye to eye for quite some time, and Fleischman never accuses Rep Lewis of doing anything illegal, yet he claims that the congressman has broken his committment to his [Republican] party.
Fleischman states that "Lewis used his position to glorify spending. He used his Chairmanship to assert some sort of 'superiority' for those in Congress who are on the ugly side of redistributing taxpayer funds to spending interest projects, without any regard for the Constitutionality of such spending."
I applaud Fleischman for standing up for what he believes in, as we conservatives need to hold our leaders accountable. Yet to say that they should no longer hold office, when they haven't been convicted of any wrongdoing is a little extreme.
The latest in the trend is RedState.com's post Who Will Stand On Either Hand And Retake the GOP With Me? The Battle Plan . . .
The author, Erick, has declared a civil war on certain Republican leaders over the appointment of Rep Ken Calvert to the House Appropriations committee.
Erick states "This war is not about Ken Calvert. The people of his district elected him and he has every right to represent them. He should not, however, be on the Appropriations Committee. Already on the Appropriations Committee -- that committee which doles out taxpayer funds -- Republicans have seen Duke Cunningham go to jail, John Doolittle resign because of a federal investigation, and Jerry Lewis most likely to soon be indicted. Calvert is just the most recent unfortunate example of why this war is necessary."
A May 15, 2006 L.A. Times article (exactly one year ago today) outlines the land transactions and explains the earmark process. It also describes that these types of Real Estate transactions often appear suspicious, yet it doesn't mean that something illegal, or even unethical has occurred.
The article declares that "The projects he helped fund, [...]
were requested by local officials. Those officials agree. Referring to
the effort to commercialize the area around March airfield, Riverside
County Supervisor Bob Buster said Calvert had been "very active for a
number
of years, and in a variety of ways."
Again, I agree that as conservatives, and as citizens, it is our duty and responsibility to police our legislators. Ken Calvert has always fought for his district, and I believe we should stand by him while he's in the crosshairs.
I leave you with two quotes:
People should not fear their government, their government should fear the people.
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the war room - Dr. Strangelove
Whatever the implication the press wants to make by their poorly researched and written editorials masquerading as news is, the facts are that neither Calvert or Lewis have broken the law. They both have represented the interests of the Inland Empire and the Nation well and deserve our support.
Ragnar,
Here's an old editorial I found that claims the land allegations are a false alarm:
10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, May 18,2006
Print edition May 19, 2006 - Lead Editorial
The Press Enterprise
The public should remain vigilant in fighting political corruption. But trumping up flimsy charges against Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, poorly serves the search for real Congressional malfeasence.
Calvert, who ran a real estate business before entering Congress, sold 4.3 acres of land in January along Cajalco Road near Interstate 215 for $965,000. Considering Calvert bought the land one year earlier for nearly half that price, he enjoyed a fine profit. Something about that looked crooked to Lake Mathews community activist Art Cassel.
Cassel complained at a March Joint Powers Commission meeting in April that Calvert's sale presented a conflict of interest because the congressman secured $8 million in federal funding in July 2005 for an interchange at Cajalco Road and the 215.
Only, Calvert didn't do that.
Calvert helped procure funding for an interchange at Cajalco Road and Interstate 15 -- 16 miles away from his property. And the LA-based watchdog group Center for Governmental Studies noted this week that Calvert's profit matched the rise in market value of the area. That sounds reasonable enough.
The nature of Calvert's private-sector business will often present the potential of a conflict of interest, so the congressman should be careful to avoid it. Sadly, voters see enough real shady business going on in Congress. Sounding false
alarms of corruption only breeds more cynicism about government.
Online at:
http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/editorials/stories/PEOpEd Opinion S op 19 ed calvert3.
2283d8ef.html
You want to be be careful dissing Art Casell. He's a good frined of this blog. See his spirited defense of nicole brambila. another good friend and source for "redcounty" riverside.